The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for incubating radioactive items such as cell cultures and the like.
In the course of biological and medical research, radioactive isotopes are added to cell cultures which subsequently are incubated. For example, .sup.35 S amino acids, such as cysteine and methionine, can be added to cell culture media. The cells and the culture media are then incubated at 37.degree. C. under conditions which do not inhibit oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. During incubation volatile radio-labelled compounds, such as CH.sub.3.sup.35 SH, are produced and can escape into the environment of the incubator, contaminating interior walls, shelves, trays, fans and other components. Such procedures obviously pose serious health risks to researchers and others who come into contact with the incubators, their contents and the surrounding environment.
Attempts have been made to alleviate or minimize the radiation contamination of incubators. These include placing trays of activated charcoal within the incubator, or placing charcoal sticks or Packets within the incubator. Although helpful to some extent, such techniques tend only to reduce the risk of radiation contamination and do not entirely eliminate the problem.
There is thus a need for safe, effective techniques and equipment for preventing the radiation contamination of the interior of incubators. Current practices for dealing with radioactive emissions from incubating cells or other items are not entirely effective.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide methods and devices for capturing and retaining emissions of radioactive gases from radio-labelled incubating cells. A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus to facilitate safe incubation of radio-labelled cells or other items in such a way that volatile radioactive compounds are not released into the incubator or the surrounding environment. Additional objects will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following disclosure.